Abstract

Badnavirus-like particles were observed by ISEM in viral preparations from yam (Dioscorea sansibarensis) leaves from Benin. Use of the viral preparation as template for PCR amplification with badnavirus-specific primers gave rise to a 579-bp product with most nucleotide identity (70.8%) to Dioscorea alata bacilliform virus (DaBV, Accession numbers X94575–X94582), the only other yam badnavirus sequenced to date. A full-length badnavirus sequence was generated, which consisted of 7261 nucleotides with a typical Badnavirus genome organisation. The full-length sequence shared most identity (61.9%) to DaBV (Accession numbers X94575–X94582) and hence represents a member of a new badnavirus species termed Dioscorea sansibarensis bacilliform virus (DsBV).